High-rise development is favored in an increasingly crowded and environmentally challenged world. The higher density afforded by such structures reduces the per capita footprint and consequent impermeable surfaces which cause flooding, pollution of storm water, high albedo effects, and the congestion engendered by sprawling development due to longer travel distances, and consequent fuel consumption, air pollution and other effects of a ‘carbon footprint’.
The present invention addresses itself to that mobile class of homeowners whose means and inclinations most commonly result in sprawl. It offers a viable alternative to the private detached dwelling that achieves comparable amenities together with the environmental efficiencies of high-rise development.
Two attributes of the design cannot be claimed as program objectives in efficient apartment planning, but make a positive contribution to a visually complete environment: The stairs permit vantage points that enrich the visual experience, and a modicum of physical rigor that has come to be valued in an increasingly sedentary world. The corridors serve the private zones of the dwelling by imparting a sense of seclusion, and refuge from the boisterous communal functions, as well as providing gallery space for personal expression.
The ‘complete visual experience’ fulfills a cognitive need inclining humans to three dimensional complexity in the spatial environment. It exercises the faculty of depth perception enabled by stereoscopic vision—a unique adaptive response to the primordial arboreal habitus. This complexity therefore brings into the apartment an element that enables the space to be comfortably occupied for longer periods. It is believed that this is essential to the definition of habitability.